GoI victimizing voices of dissent: JKCCS

Srinagar, Sep 4: For the last seven decades, the Government of India has routinized the victimization of the voices of dissent in Jammu and Kashmir either by arresting the political leaders, activists, journalists or by imposing various kinds of restrictions, Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) said on Tuesday.

A JKCCS spokesperson in a statement issued to GNS said, “Recently, a young journalist Aasif Sultan has been arrested for one of his stories. This obviously is not the first time Kashmiri journalists or activists have been targeted for their work. This reality in Jammu and Kashmir has been largely ignored or endorsed by the vast sections of opinion makers in India.”

He said it is observed that increasingly these “brutal” tactics are becoming a reality for the people of India as well. “Anyone questioning the ruling class is met with state violence. Human rights activists, journalists, RTI activists, environmental rights activists and simply dissenters are hounded through arrests, fake cases, mob violence, online trolling, media trials and travel restrictions,” he said.

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The spokesperson said the state successfully uses media to “criminalize” any kind of dissent, thus creating an atmosphere of fear for activists, journalists, poets, or artists.

“Emboldened by the lack of accountability of its conduct against voices of dissent in Jammu and Kashmir and also across India, the state apparatus has begun its crackdown even against the most prominent activists in India. Prominent human rights activists like Gautam Navlakha, Adv Sudha Bhardawaj, Adv Arun Feriera, Varvara Rao and Vernon Gonsalves have recently been arrested. Luckily for them, the judiciary has intervened, unlike for those who are living on the margins,” he said.

The JKCCS said, “Gautam Navlakha has had a very long history with people of Kashmir and with Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). He has been visiting Kashmir consistently from 1990 and has been part of several reports and campaigns, which highlighted the ugly truth about the state violence in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“Gautam was one of the first to visit Kashmir in 1990 as a part of a fact-finding team. In a zone of extensive surveillance, Gautam’s work has been public and widely known to civil society and the State. The present allegations are therefore clearly an attempt to malign a credible rights activist whose work has consistently been principled.”

The JKCCS spokesperson said Gautam Navlakha is one of the most respected Indians in Kashmir for being truthful and courageous. “Gautam never minced his words to even criticize the role of non-state actors when they were involved in human rights violations,” he said.

Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS) condemns these arrests and hopes that people in India and institutions would rise to this occasion and express unconditional solidarity with these activists and all those who in a similar manner are being targeted by the ruling class for the work which is produced by them.

“This sustained stifling of the dissent has made India an absolute majoritarian and authoritarian regime,” the spokesperson said. (GNS)